Saturday, June 11, 2011

The Sept. 8, 2009, clash between at least 50 heavily armed insurgents and the Marine trainers and Afghan forces they surprised in Kunar province, Afghanistan, already has led to three Marines and a Navy corpsman posthumously receiving the Bronze Star with V.

Two Marines were awarded the Navy Cross and another awaits a Medal of Honor investigation for this action.

Despite being under fire from a well entrenched enemy the patrol did not receive fire support or reinforcements and had to extract themselves. An investigation conducted by Army Col. Richard Hooker and Marine Col. James Werth, it determined that “negligent” leadership by three officers at nearby Forward Operating Base Joyce contributed “directly to the loss of life which ensued.” They refused direct calls for help from U.S. forces on the ground and failed to notify higher commands that they had troops in contact with enemy, the investigation found.

The officers were members of Task Force Chosin, a unit comprising soldiers from 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, out of Fort Drum, N.Y. In February, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Army officials told him that two of the three officers ultimately received reprimands, a likely career killer.

This is the second large case of negligent leadership shown by Army officers as the troops in Wanat were also not supported or supplied properly which also led to a large loss of life. Risk averse officers who are to worried about not making waves are letting our soldiers and Marines die. This is what happens when you try to make warfighters into policemen.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

While the world has been watching the Arab Spring, the NATO bombings of Libya, and the atrocities of Syria against its own population (with Iranian and Hezbollah help). Iran has been has been up to its usual of Jihad against the West, their Sunni neighbors (except the Taliban which it is arming just like they did Iraqi resistance), and its own people.

In Bahrain it appears that Iran encouraged and helped that countries Shia rise up against their current Sunni King. This uprising was brutally put down by members of the Gulf Cooperation Council led by Saudi Arabian troops. There is really two pieces of this one the encroachment of Iran further toward the Sunni heartland something that the Saudis will not tolerate and the fact that Bahrain allowed foreign troops in to kill its own population. In addition the world was quiet about the whole affair with oil being the price that it is. The issue over who is going to be the protector of the Arabs now that Egypt may or may not have the strong anti-Iran policy it once did.

Iran not ones to pass up killing US troops on the cheap are continuing to arm the Taliban something that was noted as far back as 2006. The Iranians also made it a policy to arm the Shiite groups in Iraq as well notably Sadr. Our friends in the UK are also making the case of Iranian involvement in Afghanistan it would appear the the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps which is the organization involved the most in spreading the Iranian jihad is behind arming the Taliban.

There is further Iranian involvement in South American not only in Venezuela but now in Bolivia.Bolivia’s ongoing relations with Iran are being scrutinized by the foreign community. Israeli sources have documented deposits of uranium in Bolivia and have speculated that this is another reason for the growing ties between the two countries. Vahidi is one of the main promoters of Iran’s nuclear program as well as a strong proponent of the development of vectorial nuclear arms systems. Considering this, it is extremely dangerous that Vahidi has offered military support to Bolivia.

On the subject of nuclear weapons anyone that has doubts about the Iranian program should just re-bury their heads in the sand. It appears Iran wants a nuclear weapon by next year. Obviously years of talks have done nothing and that stronger measures maybe necessary to at least help the Iranian people get rid of the Mullahs.

The US has not had a consistant Iran policy since the overthrow of the Shah. This has to end no matter what party is in the White House. Strong steps must be utilized to help Iranian resistance and if need be force used to slow down or stop the Iranian nuclear weapons program.